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Brodie will ultimately fail at his quests until he learns to respect others instead of unilaterally demanding respect that only goes one way. Maybe one day he will learn that there is a difference between having the balls to take a stance and just being a dick.

So if you're broke, you should go see animals being abused? This is a place that has actually had a former employee charged with felonies for cruelty to animals! East Bay Express, I expect more from you, I really do. There's a million wonderful CHEAP things to do across the east bay that doesn't involve helping people profit off abuse.

The "queer and trans" narrative is all well and good; it's just not MY narrative -- and I've never claimed that the world revolves around me.

The notion of universalism (or "assimilation"), and the laundry-list approach to oppressed identities (and ostensible coalitions or communities) deserves a much longer (long overdue) fully open and civil discussion.

Yeah I remember djing a bar at the lake and them saying the music wasn't right and that they wanted a certain crowd and it "wasn't a race thing" but it clearly must have been because they certainly couldn't phrase what was wrong with the crowd without brining up race. It was the first time someone had been that upfront about the kind of unspoken racism that a lot places out here perpetuate. It was a few years ago and it's another place altogether now.

The effort "to highlight the people who don't fit neatly into the narrative visualized by two white guys kissing on their wedding day," involves the creation of a new narrative -- a narrative in which those two white guys seem increasingly irrelevant, readily ignored and dismissed, a means to an end that feels alien to their own original narrative (their concerns and interests disparaged as those of the "privileged").

The resurgence of race and gender is already having unintended(?) consequences. Imagine a version of "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest" in which Nurse Ratched is cast as a feminist hero, and her (male) charges as "deplorables" -- along with the Ginsberg, Kerouac, and Neal Cassady characters from "On the Road" (and for good measure, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn).

Just don't be surprised by the backlash! "Intersectionality" cuts both ways -- or actually, in as many ways as there are individuals. The one sure casualty is universalism (now denigrated as "assimilation") -- though for many of us, ironically, that (along with personal freedom) was initially the goal.

Some attributes already have fallen off the laundry list of explicitly recognized oppressions. Does this even matter? It matters to me, as a gay ("cisgender") male Jew -- and it will only matter more urgently when the pitchforks and torches appear on the street. I'm not sure the trade-offs are worth it.

If we tax soda then we should also tax other toxics that are out there causing harm to our bodies. Hurting the poor or not... Taxing anything because of our health should go across the board or nothing at all. Its ridiculous and is getting out of hand. It's like trying to get McDonald's to sell healthy food. People who want to eat healthy do not frequent McDonald's.

"..hurts the poor". Is this fact or fantasy? It seems to me that soda tax could just as easily benefit the poor, pricing out of their reach toxic products causing diabetes, heart problems, high blood pressure and any number of other health problems stemming from obesity. Seems like an excellent way to counter the overwhelming power of those who manufacture such products. We tax cigarettes to help pay for the health care costs of treating smoking-related diseases. Taxing toxic 'foods' seems a logical next step.

It's not genetrification, and I get that bars come and go. What Oakland DOESN'T need is more hipster bars with "mixologists"! So sick of seeing overpriced cocktails, and food at the "newest, hottest, lame ass" bar.

GO sports bar closing is a serious bummer. It's not about having a dive bar to go to or about gentrification or changing with the times. Oakland is missing a Good quality sports bar with tons of TVs and all the games playing on Sundays. Somewhere where you can order a light beer without a judgemental look. It doesn't need another boring cocktail lounge where I can get a $14 artisanal bourbon in rose petal water. THAT is what we have enough of.

FWIW Kim's Backyard was closed by Kim because she was retiring. After she retired the bar was vacant for months until we finally heard it was bought. Source: live across the street, frequented there for long time.

Someone who moves in a working class area from an outside neighborhood with a pocket full of cash and no ties to the current community, is contributing to gentrification. Scott Ayers is not. The owners of "Ye Olde Hut" weren't pushed out - they wanted to sell. The appearance of the bar hasn't changed at all other than him having literally two weeks to replace all the floors, by law, because they were ROTTING - he would not have been allowed to open if he didn't do it. For anyone who actually went to the Hut recently, the Ping Pong table was actually taken out before they closed - I don't know if this is true, but I heard it required a cabaret license, which the bar does not have. He sells craft cocktails that, while not usually my thing, are extremely tasty and created by local Oakland bartenders who have been around forever. They're not doing anything that they weren't already doing at other spots in Oakland. You can also get a Miller High Life + a shot for $5, as well as Zachary's Pizza, which already exists around the corner. Scott has been working in the service industry, literally across the street from this bar since 1994, and living from paycheck to paycheck for the past 15 years! Knowing how tough things have been for him with recent unemployment, and the struggle to survive in the bay area in general, as a friend, I'm extremely proud of him for opening this bar!

Let's turn down the thermostat a notch, people. The G word - gentrification - is so incendiary it's difficult to talk about it with anything resembling our inside voices.

I get it. It's tough. Would you prefer a vacant storefront to an artisanal cheese shop in your neighborhood? What about the Dollar Store next to your favorite Asian fusion restaurant? The answer is not easy, which is why I only pose the question.

Me, I hold out for those pockets of Oakland where unicorns still exist, where, say, a long standing shoe repair shop, or donut place, or mom ‘n’ pop hardware store, can exist cheek-by-jowl with a cocktail bar or exclusive clothing boutique. I know the pressure of increasing rents and a shifting demographic are driving these unicorns away, but those neighborhood pockets are still out there. Let’s cherish them.

The G-world also begs the chicken and egg question: are the newer, cleaner hip places being opened to cater to the more affluent crowd that can afford Oakland's ridiculous rents (average two bedroom apartment $3244), or are the affluent crowds following the leads of new bar owners and upscale entrepreneurs? Again, I only put the question, not the answer, out there, because the issues are maddeningly complex and nuanced.

But I am certain about one thing: this article made me actually feel proud about the dismal (charming?) state of our bathrooms. Alfredo, Ruby Room and Radio Bar.